Together
by DuchessJen18
Summary: AFTER TITANIC: Rose Dewitt Bukater is a 17 year old girl, who has just arrived in New York City on the Carpathia. All alone, Rose now has to try and make a life for herself in the big city. Will Jack Dawson turn up again? Will everything run smoothly in her life? I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITANIC CHARACTERS.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so this is my first ever story on here, and my first Titanic fanfic! Hope you like ~ Jen

**PROLOGUE**

It was around 8pm in the evening, on the 18th April 1912 and the Carpathia was 10 minutes from docking in New York harbour. 17 year old Rose DeWitt Bukater, or Rose Dawson, as she liked to call herself, sat curled up on a bench at the bow of the Carpathia, a blanket right around her, keeping her warm. The statue of Liberty was in sight, lit up. It was pouring with rain and her hair was soaking wet, her eyes had huge bags underneath them and they were wet from crying and still feeling a little cold. The shock horror of the events of April 15th had shaken her up terribly, and since then, she'd become withdrawn and had hardly spoke to anyone. She didn't even want her own mother to find her, or Cal Hockley, the man she was supposed to marry. Rose felt trapped in a life where one thing was important: money. And she loathed it. She wanted to be free.

The man she truly loved, Jack Dawson was an artist from Chippewa falls, Wisconsin. He'd travelled the world, doing his art, what he truly loved. Jack had saved her when she'd reached the edge of everything and had had enough. She'd tried to commit suicide by jumping off of the Titanic. Jack had seen her, and saved her. The next few days involved them getting to know one another and soon, she'd fallen in love with him, although he was already in love with her. She'd promised to get off the ship with him, and not her Fiancé, Cal Hockley. She loved Jack's positive-ness about life.

However, the RMS Titanic had struck an iceberg on April 14th 1912, resulting in a loss of 1,500 people's lives. Rose, had, however, survived and was one of the small minorities of survivors, of 705 people. Jack Dawson wasn't one of those survivors. He was at the bottom of the Atlantic, dead, with amongst many other people. Rose was heartbroken. She wanted Jack, nobody else, just Jack. She didn't know how she would cope without him. She wanted to be strong, but she felt so fragile and broken, she couldn't. The disaster of that night, seeing so many people lose their lives in such an awful way, in the ice cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, miles away from any land, some separated from their families, some children, some mothers, or fathers, or newly engaged people, people looking for new lives in America. These people were now dead, and some had survived.

The fog horn went off, signalling all passengers were to come inside, ready to get off the ship. Rose didn't bother. She didn't really want to be around other familiar passengers, and besides, her own mother and Cal would find her, and she did not want that to happen at all. She just stood up, staring at the Statue of Liberty as it came closer and closer, and at its beauty. She hadn't seen it this close up, and was quite amazed. She took her blanket off and put it by her feet, her wearing a long black coat, which belonged to Cal. Her hair was wet and her beautiful curls were no longer there due to the rain. Her fiery red hair was completely straight and it lay flat against her back. She wished she was arriving in New York City, on the RMS Titanic, in Jack's arms, after having the adventure of a lifetime. She heard people dashing around behind her but she did not care who they were or what they were doing. Just then, a ship officer approached her and said, "Can I take your name please miss?"

Rose gave a sigh and without hesitation, said, "Dawson," then she turned to look at him, "Rose Dawson." Her eyes filled with tears and she turned back to face the statue of liberty and the night sky. She heard the officer walk away and she put her hands in her pockets. She felt something in her left pocket and pulled it out. It was the heart of the ocean. She looked at the necklace, a little shocked such an item was left in that coat pocket. She looked at it for around 10 seconds, then stuffed the necklace back into her pocket and continued looking up at the statue of liberty as it passed by.

As the ship docked into New York City harbour, Rose saw all the press and people waiting to ask questions to the Titanic survivors. Rose suddenly felt scared. She did not like what she was seeing and she quickly, under the orders of an officer, made her way down to the massive foyer, hoping her Mother would not find her, or Cal. Even though she vowed to not go down there, she had to. She leaned against the wall, her hands in her pockets and she clutched her blanket so tightly to her chest. She was soaking wet and cold. She wanted to curl up somewhere warm and be safe. She looked around the foyer. There were children holding onto their mothers, sobbing. They looked pale and sick, and tired. Rose instantly felt sorry for them, and wished she could do something to help them one day. She sighed and looked to her feet while twirling a finger around a strand of her wet hair. She couldn't stop thinking about Jack, that was who was on her mind, Jack, Jack, Jack. It was hard for her to stop thinking of him. She tried to hold back the masses of tears that were about to fall from her tired eyes, but she couldn't. She wiped her eyes with her bare hands, no tissues to wipe them. She couldn't believe she and so many others were arriving in these conditions, just couldn't believe it. She could still hear those piercing screams of the people in the Atlantic that night, crying out for help and pain, but by the time the boats came back, 6 people, including her, were alive in the ice cold water and were rescued.

The ship came to a halt and Rose looked up. She could see people slowly walking towards exits. She began to walk very slowly towards the exit, keeping her head down, while wiping her tears. She was so scared, she couldn't believe it herself. She was usually a very strong woman, but right now, she just did not feel it.

She exited the ship around 5 minutes' later right into a sea of reporters. Like many other people, she did not want to discuss the situation this present moment. She put her right hand around 5 inches in front of her face as she made her way through the huge crowd, crying her eyes out. It was worse that she was expecting. It was wet, damp and she was miserable. Reporters were trying to shove cameras in her face and notebooks and were yelling and asking questions. Rose was gaining another painful headache from it all and she just wanted to rest. She looked around and saw some other survivors pushing the reports out the way. She knew she had to get out fast as what looked like to be a riot was going to start any moment now. She pushed and shoved people out of the way until she was finally out of the crowd. She then ran and ran to get as far away as she could from it all, until she reached Brooklyn Bridge. She looked at the skyline and saw all the lights on, and cars driving by. It was a beautiful and she admired its glory. New York was a massive city, and she knew if she was going to survive in this city, she had to be strong. And she was determined to do so. She was going to do it, For Jack.


	2. Chapter 2

I'd like to thank everyone for the reviews, and views! Much appreciated! So here is the next part! Enjoy! ~ Jen

Rose had been living in New York City for just under 2 months now. She had found a small part time job working in a theatre café, around 3 days after being there. She worked every day apart from Sunday and Tuesdays. She generally worked from 10am-5pm Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Monday, 10am-3pm and Saturday 9:30am to 2pm. Rose, however, wished to be an actress and her hopes were dashed when she was told there were not auditions for a long while now, probably for at least a good few months. This upset Rose greatly, but as much as she wanted to do it, she decided to wait until something came up that she actually wanted. She'd never told anyone about Titanic, or that she was on it.

As for living, she was had found some left over money in the coat pocket in Cal's coat that he'd put on her. After staying at a hostel for around a month, she'd found a small two bedroom flat in downtown Brooklyn, five minutes' walk west of the museum. On the 9th May, she'd moved into the flat with nothing in there, bare and empty. Now, thanks to the money she'd earned from the job, and partially Cal's money, she had two sofas, shelves, a bed, lots of food and some new carpets, tables, a small fire and chairs in the flat. She'd hung some paintings and drawings up around the flat to make it look a little cheery. She'd also brought a few books and some art gear for herself, so she did not get bored.

Rose still thought of Jack every single day and on the 15th April of each month, she went out onto the flat's balcony and lit a candle, at exactly 2:20am, she woke up and went onto her balcony, lit a candle and said a little prayer for Jack, and a little prayer for all the Titanic victims. She knew he would be proud of her to even get where she was in these past few months. Jack wanted her to live life to the fullest; he'd told her that night he died. She'd been practising her art and discovered her new talent. She had even managed to draw a photo of Jack from memory. She'd hung it in her small bedroom, which consisted of two paintings, a bed, table, chair and wardrobe. Aside from Jack not being in her life right now, everything was going smoothly for her. Rose's mother, Ruth or Cal had not bothered to go and find her, which she was pleased about.

On the morning of the 4th June, Rose had suddenly woken up, feeling very sick. She looked at her clock and saw it was only 7am, and she did not need to be up for another hour and 30 minutes. Rose ripped the covers off and ran to the bathroom and threw up. She found it oddly strange, as she wasn't unwell or nothing of the sort. She just shook it off and blamed tiredness for this, as she'd had little sleep that night due to loud screams outside all night long, combined with the heat. She'd managed to get around 4 and a half hours sleep in total, but that was not even all at once. She looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes were black underneath and she looked horrible and sweaty. She gave a little groan and she walked slowly back to bed and slumped down, looking straight up at the ceiling. This had been happening for around 3 weeks now and she felt so tired. The sun was shining bright, the sky was pure blue and the birds were chirping away. Rose decided to sleep for just a little bit longer and wake up at 8:30. She sighed, pulled the covers over her once more and fell asleep.

Rose woke up at exactly 8:30am. She still felt very tired but a little better. She stretched, and yawned and sat bolt upright in her bed and rubbed her eyes and looked outside the window, which was ahead of her bed. The sky was still blue and she could still see the sun. Rose smiled a little and got herself out of bed. She decided to go and take a shower quickly before getting ready for work. She hoped today would be a good day.

But however, the day did not get off to a good start. Rose left the house at exactly 9:15am, 15 minutes earlier than she usually did, due to hearing through the grapevine that earlier day that major works on the Brooklyn Bridge were starting that very day. She caught the bus which stopped just outside her house and took a seat at the back on her own. But the bus had got caught up in the bridge works and Rose arrived slightly late for work, her first time- 10:15am, and this was instead of the usual arriving half an hour before. Her Boss, however, was sympathetic to her case and let her off, but just that once. Rose threw her bag in the staff room, put her apron on and went out front, where her two friends, Victoria Jones and Julia Murphy were. Victoria was taking an order and Julia was cleaning. Victoria was almost 25 and treated Rose as if she was a sister and Julia was nearer to Rose's age, at 19 and the two were very good friends, her living in Southern Brooklyn in Howard Beach.

"Morning Rose," Julia said in her strong New York accent and threw Rose a cloth, "You feelin' aright today?"

Rose caught the cloth and started cleaning, "I guess, a little tired but that's expected from me. I was awake all night long by some absurd people screaming loudly and police trying to calm them down from 12am to 3am in the morning right outside my apartment building and then I woke up in the morning at 7am because I felt sick and had to be sick. Sickness thing has happened three weeks in a row now. How are you?" And the pair of them laughed

"I'm okay, annoyed because I was meant to go out for dinner tonight at 6pm with my friend, but I have to cover Carrie's shift and work until closing, 8pm, but apart from that and a slight sore head, I'm good." Julia nodded as she squeezed the wet cloth in the sink, ready to stop wiping. Rose just grinned. Carrie had been not so well all week, leaving Julia to work even harder, and the other girls, Heather, Alexandra and Kate, worked in the evenings and the other boy, Thomas, worked in the chef's kitchens morning until night.

"That's really rather tiring." Rose laughed as she wiped the counter down, a few of her fiery red curls falling in her face. Her hair was up in a bun, with some curls left down.

"It is, I've done that shift before, and I am almost falling asleep by the end of it. Never ever do those shifts if you are ever asked." Julia laughed

Rose laughed, "Well, I hope to not get it one day then," she continued, "Although I love to work, I could not work that long." Julia nodded and gave a small tight lipped smile, then her faced turned all serious, "You mentioned you have been sick for three weeks in a row?"

Rose's eyes grew wide, "Oh it's nothing. I've been feeling tired out on and off the past three weeks, you know, sleepless nights and tiredness makes you sick. Still feeling a little tired now, but I am fit enough to work!"

"Hmmm….you need to rest more then, it seems like, Rose. If that continues, I suggest the Doctor." Julia said, folding her arms.

Rose sighed, "Yes, I am planning on going in the news few days if this does not stop," Rose continued, "Besides, can't be anything too serious, I've not been feeling ill or anything, just tired and sick. Strange." Julia gave a small tight lipped smile and Rose did too.

Victoria turned around after finishing taking the order, "Oh hello Miss Rose," and said with a little smile, "How are you?"

"I'm fine; I am a little tired, but can manage for the day," Rose turned around, "So, are there any jobs you want me to do?"

"Well, that man over there wants a coffee. Rose, do you remember how to make a cappuccino?" asked Victoria grinning a little.

"Of course I do. I will do it now." Rose nodded and she walked over to the coffee machine behind the counter. One thing Rose was good at was making coffee. But this was because she drank lots of it in the mornings, especially black coffee. Julia went off to make a small toasted sandwich and Victoria stood by Rose watching her make the coffee, while talking to her.

"You're a very hard worker for 17, you know that." Victoria praised Rose, like she often did.

"Thank you," Rose said, with a small smile, "I love to work I guess." She did not dare give anything away about herself being on the Titanic, or her past life of being a rich girl at all and not having to work like she currently was, or even a mention of Jack Dawson. It hurt her to talk about it in front of people and she often got emotional about it. She'd told them, though, that she was from Philadelphia, but that was all she gave away.

"Well, sorry to say I've been looking out for acting auditions all around the city over the weekend but no luck I'm afraid, not even new plays, just nothing at all," Victoria said, "I'll keep looking for you, I promise."

Rose appreciated what Victoria was doing for her, "Thank you. I'll get that stage job one day, I'm sure of it." She put the cup under the machine and began to make the coffee. Rose managed to whip up the coffee in 2 minutes and without hesitation, she took it out to the man, who was busy reading a newspaper, The New York Times. Rose noticed the Titanic headlines still going on. A large picture of the vessel took up the entire cover, and from what she could see on the headline, it was about the investigation into the sinking.

"Excuse me, your cappuccino, sir?!" Rose said in her posh Philadelphia accent. The man looked up and said, "Oh, I'm not used to Sir," and he laughed, making Rose give a shy little smile, "Thank you very much."

"You are most welcome." Rose smiled as she put the cappuccino down on the table

"Oh, I've have just been reading about that Titanic investigation. All those poor souls lost, Must have been a dreadful night. Can barely imagine what it was like for them. They're making good progress into the investigation though." The man commented, a hint of sadness in his voice.

Rose felt like she was about to cry, but managed to hold the tears back, "It's good they're making progress in this investigation. It must have been a dreadful evening." And the man nodded slowly, not knowing he was talking to a Titanic survivor and Rose continued "Your toasted sandwich will with you in a minute." And she walked back behind the counter. She sighed and leaned slightly against the back counter, she knew this was going to be a very good day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the update wait! Here is the 3rd chapter. ~Jen**

Rose's day at work had gone relatively well. She was let out just after 3pm, and since she was in the middle of New York City, she decided to stay for a few hours, strolling around. New York was a beautiful city and Rose had grown to love it, especially Central Park. The sun was shining and it was a really hot day. Rose luckily had a big enough bag to put her thin cardigan in and she'd purposely chosen her long green floaty dress which came down to her ankles almost. She'd left her hair in a bun and had minimal make-up on, looking mostly natural. Rose decided to go to central park for some tea and cake. Rose had become a regular customer at that cafe, situated right by the lake and she'd gotten to know the owners fairly well. The park was only a 10 minute walk from her work, and she often when there when work had finished, if it was summer or the nights were light.

Rose strolled through the streets of the bustling city. People were running around doing their errands and running in and out of shops, sitting eating cakes and tea, some were having lunch, some chasing after children, looking in windows of shops and some people selling newspapers and fruit, and some people leaving or going to work. On her way, Rose brought a newspaper to sit and read while in the park, The New York post.

Rose reached her favourite place in New York City, Central Park at around 3:20pm. It was busy, like it usually was, with little children playing, adults relaxing, musicians playing, and people on their own out for a stroll or artists sitting and selling their drawings. Rose, lately, often looked out for Jack amongst the artists, in the hope he was alive and he'd escaped last minute. But she never saw him. She walked slowly through the park to the little coffee shop, taking in the fresh air of the park. She often saw people she knew walking, but not people she'd worked with or people she knew outside of work as friends, just people she was on her regular visits there, that she usually saw every day. Rose stopped to speak to them and had a good laugh with them. She sometimes sat with one of the girls who helped in the cafe she went to and the two had a good chat, and her name was Fiona-Jane Taylor. She was 18 years of age, and had piercing blue eyes and blonde hair.

She reached the cafe to find it was relatively empty. Only one other elderly lady sat in there with her husband, eating some cake. Rose took her usual seat and waited for a waitress to come and take her order. She sighed and looked out to the lake. The water was sparkling in the sunlight and looked beautiful. She saw people rowing on the lake. Rose thought that looked fun, but the thought of her going on a small boat even scared her. She'd developed a fear of water and boats since the Titanic disaster, vowing to never go on one again. That was enough for her. She sighed and sat back, taking in the beautiful sunshine, when she heard a voice, "Rose?"

Rose snapped out of her little daydream and turned around to see it was Fiona, "Oh Fiona! Hello!"

"Hi, Rose," Fiona smiled, "Listen, I've just been let off, so I'll join you," Fiona sat down next to Rose, "I hope you are okay with that? I saw you come in the cafe and I ordered you're usual for you, lemon Drizzle cake with icing and tea."

"That is not a problem at all Fiona," Rose said, "And thanks very much. How are you today?"

Fiona leaned back in her chair and sighed, "Oh just the usual. Customers in and out of the cafe, busiest day this past week, and I'm tired out. Mother is away on business as usual with father in Albany until tomorrow morning and my eldest brother James, who is 26, is working in Newark until 8pm and my twin sister Lucy is with friends in Long island for the night. So I figured I'd stay out for a little bit, and then I saw you and stayed here. Are you feeling okay?"

Rose nodded, "I'm okay, a little tired still, has to be the heat today. Was sick these mornings, had been yesterday too. Have been having sleepless nights, due to absurd and rude people outside in the early hours of the morning, screaming and thinking they can have a street party. Really quite annoying actually and I've been sleeping late and little. Work was fine, I've not long finished actually, and I came straight here from work, like I always do," and Rose's lips curved into a smile, "Central Park is my favourite place in this city. It's beautiful."

"Yes, used to come here every day as a child and sit and watch the artists draw. It was really rather entertaining, especially as I love art," Fiona continued on, "Remember around three of years ago I used to sit and watch an artist, and one day, he offered to draw me, for a small price, and he had the drawing done for me within around 20 minutes. It was brilliant. I took it home and have treasured it ever since. He used to sit on a bench every time I saw him, right by the lake and draw, but I never see him now, it's a shame as I would have loved for you to have met him. He was in his 20's I'd say, and I never got his name. I'd love to do a job like that one day."

Rose smiled a little, "Yes, it's really rather nice to sit and watch the artists draw. I love art myself, and often dreamt of becoming one. Right now, I work in a Cafe, trying to find acting auditions at the same time. Seventeen years old, all alone in New York, which is rather expensive, it's tough going. I'm managing though. Just give up and keep going because you'll never know where you'll end up, or who you'll meet."

"And that applies to you," Fiona pointed out, as the waitress, Emma, served their cake and tea, "Thank you Emma."

"Thank you very much." Rose nodded and Emma gave a warm smile and walked off. Rose did not know her face, so she assumed she must have been new.

"She's new Rose, I can read your thoughts. She's shy, but ok once you get to know her. She's you're age, seventeen. She loves to cook and likes to see shows on Broadway. She recently lost her father and her mother says she has become a little withdrawn, but she's nice." Fiona nodded. Rose nodded and smiled. Fiona waffled on so much, but Rose did not mind. Fiona was like Jack in the sense that he was very optimistic about life, and Rose liked people like that.

"I understand. I know that feeling, I really do," Rose gave s huge sigh, "Lost my father when I was 14. I loved him so much, we'd do everything together. Until he died of Typhoid and I was withdrawn for weeks after." And she drank some of her tea. Rose rarely talked about her father's death to anyone.

"Oh I'm sorry Rose," Fiona then put some cake in her mouth, swallowed it and said, quickly changing the subject, "Rose, would you like to go to Soho? I think you'd like it there, lots of artists and little artist's shops, as well as some small clothing ships. It's over an hour's walk away, but we can always get a bus there, which takes 30 minutes. We'll go after this if you want something to do?"

Rose's face lit up, she'd wanted to go to Soho, but never had gotten the chance to, "Yes please, I'd love to. I have some money with me, so might be able to get more art stuff and clothes, as I need some more."

Fiona smiled, "Good. We'll go there then." And the two of them continued chatting away.

Fiona and Rose arrived in Soho around 4:20pm. They had around an hour and 40 minutes until the shops shut for the night. Rose was amazed by the sights and sounds of this neighbourhood. There were artists sitting everywhere drawing people, or waiting for work, artist shops, galleries and plenty of clothes shops too, buildings made of stone, brick and colourful art painted on the side walls of shops. She knew Jack would have loved the artist side of this place if he had not been here when he was alive already. Fiona turned to Rose, who was looking amazed at it all as they walked alone, and said, "Where first, Rose?"

Rose answered after a few seconds, "I need some dresses first," Rose spotted a small boutique and pointed at it, "I'd like to go to that little boutique please."

Fiona's eyes grew wide and she said, "I do not think that would be your sort of place, Rose, honestly…"

But Rose, who was particular about where she wanted to go, said in her firm, but kind voice, "No, I would like to go there please." And Fiona sighed, she could never say no to Rose, "Alright then. I guess it is a good place to find good quality dresses for a good price. I have a few dresses from there," Fiona continued on as they walked towards the boutique, and Rose said "I used to like shopping for dresses when I was very little, then I grew out of it, but it's grown back on me again in the past few months. Strange how that happens to you."

Fiona gave a little laugh, "Oh it most definitely is," Rose laughed and Fiona continued on, "There is a two floor small independent art shop at the end of this long road, do you want to go there after? Because it shuts early, at sell many beautiful paintings there and I think you'd like it."

"If you say so, then yes, I will go there." Rose nodded as the two approached the small boutique. It was not that busy, with one or two other people in there. Rose and Fiona entered the small shop. It was a shop that sold dresses and they were all sorted each to colour code. Rose began to browse, while Fiona spotted someone she knew outside the shop and began to chat. Rose was amazed at the variety of dresses she had come across, so many she wanted to buy. Rose probably spent around 25 minutes in there trying dresses on. She'd noticed that she had gained a small bit of weight as her usual size did not fit snug on her and very slightly tight, therefore, making her go up one size, and she blamed this on the white chocolate and trifles she'd been eating a lot in the past month. She ended up picking 6 different dresses, a dark orange one, a baby blue one, a burgundy one, a golden yellow one, a white/pink floaty one and a lilac/green floaty one, and a nice new silver necklace.

Rose came out of the shop door with three huge bags, a big grin plastered on her face. Fiona offered to help her with the bags, "Do you want help with those, Rose?"

Rose, who was used to people carrying bags for her, turned to Fiona and said in a very particular voice, "No, I'm fine thank you. I like to carry things by myself."

Fiona nodded quickly. She knew Rose to be like that sometimes when they had gone shopping the previous time and she was used to it and she said, "Okay then. Shall we go to this art shop that you will like now before it closes for the day?"

Rose's lips curved into a smile, "Let's do just that then. I am eager to go there and buy some more paintings for my little apartment. I have around 6 paintings in there and would love some more to make it look even more cheerful than it already is!"

Rose and Fiona arrived at the shop around 15 minutes later. In reality, the shop was around 5 minutes' walk away, but Rose had spotted another boutique she liked and went and brought another dress, this time, a navy blue one. Once Rose stepped into the art shop, she was amazed. It wasn't what she expected. She thought by Art shop, Fiona meant art supplies and paintings, but it was just paintings, and she was amazed by every single one of them. She soon learnt that there were drawings on the upper floor and paintings on the lower ground floor. Fiona turned to Rose to see her amazed, day-dreamy face and she said to her, "Rose?" Rose did not answer and Fiona smiled again, "Miss Rose? Wake up!"

Rose turned to Fiona, "What? Oh, I'm sorry. These are amazing paintings. I'm going to find it hard to choose one!" and the pair of them laughed. However, one caught Rose's eye. It was a painting of a big ship, but not just any big ship.

It was the Titanic.

Rose slowly walked over to it. Painted as an oil painting on A3 paper, it was very detailed and beautiful, and looked very realistic. Rose read the caption underneath it, which said in small letters, 'Titanic leaving Southampton, 1912 for her maiden voyage, which she would never complete, after striking and iceberg' Rose thought back to all the memories of that day, the start of an adventure, partially good, partially, bad. Tears stung Rose's dark green eyes and she quickly wiped them. Rose looked at the price of the painting. It was $200. Rose had $1000 in her pocket, and loads more in a bank, thanks to Cal putting the coat on her the night of the sinking and leaving at least $4000 in there, and all in all, including work money, she had around $5000, so she was not doing badly, or so she thought. When she saw the artist's signature, she gasped: 'J.D'. Jack's initials and the writing, as for the writing, it was a little similar to Jack's handwriting. Rose quickly wiped the few tears that fell from her eyes, when there was a tap on her shoulder. Rose turned around and saw a man standing there; he was smiling at her, "Would you like that painting, Miss?"

Rose looked at it again and she said with a sad half-smile, "Yes. Is it $200?"

"Indeed it is. The Titanic, beautiful ship, such a tragedy," The man said as he was unhooking the painting off of the wall, "Any other paintings or drawings, miss?"

"I'd like to have a look first, thank you." Rose smiled and the man nodded, took the painting, to reserve for her. Rose walked over to Fiona, who was looking at a painting of the New York skyline and said, "That's a rather nice painting." Making Fiona turn around, "It is. Have you found anything yet?"

Rose nodded, "As a matter of fact, I have indeed," Rose continued on with a smile, "And there are more I probably want." And Fiona turned to Rose with a smile, "Let's go and look." And the pair of them began to walk around the small art shop together, looking for more paintings.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N-I'd like to apologise for the while it has taken me to update this story. I'd forgotten my password, and just tonight, an email finally had come through about it! Anyway, here is the next chapter and I hope you enjoy! ~ Jen**

Rose arrived home just after 7:30pm, after her and Fiona's little outing around New York. They'd gone round all of Soho, around Times Square looking at the theatres, and then for a meal. Rose had asked if Fiona wanted to come back to her apartment for a little while, but Fiona was going to meet her brother in Newark. Rose had had a good day and was still very tired. She was glad to have a day off tomorrow, and decided that if it was a nice day, she was going to go down to Brighton Beach and Coney Island tomorrow. She'd gone there last two weeks ago and loved it and the area around it.

After Rose hung her dresses up and her Titanic painting and her other paintings, it was 8pm. Rose sat down on the large sofa she had and sighed, facing the wall where the huge painting of the Titanic was. Her bun was tugging slightly at her head so she let it down. Her hair had not grown much since the sinking, maybe an inch or so. Rose leaned back and folded her arms. It was in the evenings she felt most lonely, nobody around, just her on her own. Sometimes, her neighbour, Mary came round to see how she was doing, but Rose had learnt she'd been away for a week in Boston for family reason, so Rose was again, alone tonight. It was still light outside, and as much as Rose wanted to stay out longer, she couldn't due to her being so tired and her feet were aching a little. Rose curled up on the sofa and rested her head onto the pillow. She felt really down and emotional and hadn't felt this emotionally drained since that horrible night in the Atlantic.

It was times like this she needed Jack to be with her. To comfort her, and to give her endless love but where was he? Not here with her, like he should be, he was lying dead, at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Rose was already planning to fulfil her promise of 'never letting go'. She wanted to fly, ride on the rollercoaster in Santa Monica until she threw up, drink cheap beer, ride a horse with a leg on each side, go ice fishing, get married and have children, and die an old lady in her bed. She desperately wanted to go to Santa Monica this summer for about a week, and was hoping to get a week and a half booked off, as she'd found out the journey there took two days and a half by train. She remembered Jack talking fondly of that place, where he would sit and do art for hours on end, making some money by selling drawings and how beautiful the pier was, and the evening summer sunset. She wanted to experience all of that this year. She'd even made a list of what she was going to do and it was on her table in the bedroom. This was her chance to be the free woman she so desperately wanted to be for a long time.

After around 10 minutes, Rose yawned and sat up very slowly. The sun was still shining bright in the sky; apart from that the sky was a slightly deeper shade of blue. Rose sometimes wished she had a balcony to sit on and draw or read. She usually sat in front of her bedroom window, which was large and faced the way the sun went down. Rose had a fantastic memory and had even drew the time that her and Jack were at the bow of the ship, 'flying'. He had stood her up on the railings, him standing behind her, and stretched her arms out, and all she could see ahead of her was water. It was like she was gliding. The sun was setting and it was a beautiful moment. Then they had kissed their first kiss. Rose had drawn that from memory and had hung it up in her kitchen.

Rose sighed and decided to go and make a cup of tea. She slowly stood up and gave another yawn, slowly dragging herself to the kitchen. She decided she was going to lie on her bed after this and read, and maybe fall asleep. This was the earliest night Rose had had in a long time, and she did not regret it one bit. She quickly made her cup of tea, grabbed a couple of biscuits and she took one look at the drawing she did of herself and Jack at the bow of the ship, 'flying'. She thought back to those few minutes on the bow of the ship. That was the last time Titanic saw the light of day. Those moments had been so romantic and it wasn't that cold an evening either and the sunset was beautiful, so many beautiful colours in the sky that night. She still remembered that moment like it was yesterday. Tears stung her large emerald green eyes and she quickly hurried out the kitchen and into her bedroom. She grabbed a book from the shelf and put it on her bed and her tea on the bedside table. She got changed, put her curly hair back into a small ponytail, shut the curtains and got into bed. She took a sip of her tea and began to read her book, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. She was around 3 chapters in and she had started to read it two nights ago. Rose had grown fond of the book so far, more so than Anna Karenina. Rose loved to read classic stories especially, and when she was a young girl, she would try to visualise the story scene in her head, especially when her father told her stories in bed when she was a little girl to make her sleep. She hoped she would have children to do that to one day, to love and to cherish for the rest of her life. Even though she was seventeen, she loved children and was definitely going to have a family of her own one day, and get married. She often thought about that.

Rose sighed and drank some of her tea and took a little bite of her biscuit. She looked at the clock. She'd been reading for around 30 minutes now and it was now 8:50pm. She'd read probably around 20 pages. Rose was a pretty quick reader and she had the ability to take in every detail of each story and recite the entire story, every little detail. She'd gotten that gift from her father, who had a fantastic memory. Rose put her tea on her bedside table and put a bookmark in her book and put that on the bedside table too. Her eyes were practically closing and she had a slight headache. She laid her head back on the pillow and looked at the bare white ceiling, her eyes slowly closing by the second, and she could tell that she was going to have a perfect night's sleep tonight. She fell asleep within 5 minutes of lying down on the pillow. It was 8:55pm exactly, the earliest night Rose Dawson had had in a very long time.

Rose woke up at exactly 9:45am. She sat up, stretched, yawned and looked out of the window. It was raining heavily, no wind, just rain, and she could hear it pattering against the windows and the roof top. Rose sighed loudly, no Brighton Beach or Coney Island for her today, just a day in, working on some art, relaxing in her living room, reading and cooking, as she usually did. Rose felt less tired this morning, thankfully. She couldn't believe how long she'd slept, just under 13 hours, and all through the night too, no disturbance. It was the best night's sleep she'd had in a very long time. She remembered when living with her mother after he father had died, she had to be in bed by 10pm exactly, up at 7am prompt, no minute over, and had to be washed, dressed and had to eat all before 8:15am, when she left for finishing school which started at 8:45am and lasted until 3:30pm, which she had despised. Rose had never felt better today, and she was glad to be free and away from all of that.

But, however, just as she thought that, she felt her stomach move, and it also began to ache slightly. Rose knew what this was: she was going to be sick, again. She gave a loud groan and she jumped out of bed, and ran to the bathroom, clutching her stomach, the other hand covering her mouth. She made it just in time, and to her annoyance, she threw up. Rose sighed and as she leant over the sink, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She still had slight black bags under her eyes and her eyes were very red from the rubbing she'd done the previous night and her hair was messy. Rose knew something was not right, with this sickness. She had only felt tired and sick, nothing else. She certainly did not feel ill, just emotionally drained. She decided she had to go and get herself checked out. Something was not right at all. There was a walk in clinic also in Brooklyn Village, a 15 minutes bus ride away. She was going to go there straight after she'd done what she needed to do in the house. She gave her face a very quick wash and went off to get changed.


End file.
